GB2496056A

GB2496056A - Surround trim for conduit

Info

Publication number: GB2496056A
Application number: GB1219408.0A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Keith Bailiff
Original assignee: ACER BUILDING PRODUCTS Ltd
Current assignee: ACER BUILDING PRODUCTS Ltd
Priority date: 2011-10-27
Filing date: 2012-10-29
Publication date: 2013-05-01
Anticipated expiration: 2032-10-29
Also published as: GB201219408D0; GB2496056B

Abstract

A surround trim (1 figure 10) for a conduit (30 figure 4), the trim arranged to be secured to a support structure 12 through which the conduit is to pass. The trim comprises a flange 2 and a surrounding protruding portion 3 through which a hole is provided. The protruding portion comprising a surrounding margin 4 which comprises a plurality of substantially straight side surfaces. The trim may be formed in more than one piece, the flange may comprise a plurality of through-holes.

Description

SURROUND TRIM

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to surround trims.

Background

In installing pipes in buildings to provide services such as disposal of waste water or supply of fresh water, the pipes need to pass through a hole formed in a wall or tloor of the room. This process involves forming a suitably sized hole in the wall/floor.

The pipe is then urged into the hole. A decorative covering product is usually then applied around the installed pipe. When this involves the application of tiles, it is a time-consuming and awkward process to cut the tiles so that they fit around the pipe to provide a neat and tidy finish. We have appreciated that it would be advantageous to have an improved way of installing pipework in such situations.

Sum mary According to the invention there is provided a surround trim for a conduit, the trim arranged to be secured to a support structure through which the conduit is to pass, the trim comprising a flange and a surrounding protruding portion through which a hole is provided, and the protruding portion comprising a surrounding margin which comprises a plurality of substantially straight side surfaces.

The through-hole is preferably circular.

The protruding portion is preferably integral with the flange.

The trim may be arranged to be attached to a wall.

The surrounding margin of the protruding portion is of substantially parallelogram shape and is preferably of substantially square shaped.

The flange preferably comprises a plurality of through-holes.

The trim preferably comprises a finished surface arranged to present an external surface.

The finished surface is preferably arranged to be capable of being substantially flush with an adjacent support surface covering.

The protruding portion preferably comprises a formation which is raised from the trim.

The sides of the protruding portion are arranged to be contiguous with a covering product to be applied to the flange.

The flange and the protruding portion are preferably arranged to be located on one side of the supporting structure.

The straight-edge sides preferably form interface surfaces for a support structure covering product.

The surround trim may comprise at least two components which are arranged to be brought together around the conduit. The surround trim may comprise two separate halves. The surround trim may be arranged to be formed into multiple components.

The trim may comprise a weakened region to allow a user to separate the trim into multiple components.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Various embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following drawings, in which: Figure I is a plan view of a surround trim for a conduit; Figure 2 is a cross-section on A-A of the surround trim of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the surround trim of Figure 1 installed on a wall structure; and Figure 4 is a perspective view of a pipe installed through the surround trim of Figure 1.

Detailed Description

With reference to Figures 1 and 2 there is shown a surround trim I for a conduit. As will be described in more detail below, the trim facilitates installation of a conduit through a wall, tloor or other building structure.

The trim 1 comprises a flange 2 which surrounds a raised (centralised) portion 3.

The flange 3 is of overall square shape and is provided with a plurality of through-holes 4, such that the flange is perforated by the through-holes 8.

Integral with the flange 2, the raised portion 3 sits proud of the flange. The raised portion 3 comprises straight-edged sides 4 which define an outer margin of said raised portion. The straight-edged sides form an overall parallelogram shape, and in the instance shown, a square. A through-hole 5 is provided which passes through the thickness of raised portion 3 and the thickness of the flange 2. The through-hole 5 is of circular shape and is configured to receive a conduit therethrough. Whereas the flange 2 is located rearwardly of the trim, a surface 7 of the raised portion provides a forward facing (external) finished surface.

The method of installation of the surround trim 1 will now be described, with reference to Figures 3 and 4. A wall 10 is first prepared by forming a hole through the wall at the required location. As indicated in Figure 3, the surrounding edge 11 of the hole need not be cut with a highly finished surface, rather the hole so formed must be slightly larger than the through-hole. This saves from having to prepare a highly finished surface. The trim 1 is located on the forward facing surface 12 of the wall such that the through-hole 5 is centred with respect to the hole fonned in the wall 10.

A layer of tile adhesive 15 is applied to the surface 12 and the flange 2. In the case of its application to the flange 2, the adhesive is caused to flow into the through-hole perforations 8. In so doing the adhesive adheres to the underlying surface 12 and so causes the trim to be held in position on the wall 10. Tiles 20 can then be applied to the adhesive. Advantageously, because the sides 4 of the raised portion 2 are straight, there is no need for the installer to cut the tiles 20 to a particular size or configuration.

Those tiles 20 which are to be located adjacent to the sides 4 can simply be located in abutment or adjacent to (but slightly spaced from, for example by intervening grouting) the sides 4. There being correspondence between the straight sides of the tiles and the straight sides of the trim results in a significant saving in time and effort, as compared to if the installer was required to have to cut the tiles to have curved edges so as to fit around the immediate vicinity of the pipe. Where the installer is required to cut tiles, he needs only cut the tiles to have straight edges, as opposed to curved (or substantially curved) edges, to be complementary to the straight edge surfaces 4. Having to cut tiles to have curved edges is a laborious and awkward procedure, and the surround trim 1 advantageously means that it any cutting of tiles is required that this is only to cut straight edges (and not curved edges).

Once wall 10 and the region around the raised portion 3 have been tiled, a pipe 30 can be urged through the through-hole 5. The pipe 30 could be used to carry waste water or fresh water (or indeed any other flowablc substance).

Use of the trim has particular application to use in a bathroom area (although application is of the trim is by no means limited to such a scenario). Typically, bathroom areas are often tiled for ease of cleaning and aesthetic appeal. The surround trim I allows the installer to easily achieve a neat and tidy finish without having to expend effort and time in cutting multiple tiles to have curved edges to fit around a pipe. Further advantageously, the outer surface 3 is substantially flush with the outer (external facing) surfaces of the tiles, ie the level of the outer surface 7 of the trim is substantially the same as that of the tiles 20. This further enhances the appearance of completed installation.

The trim I is advantageously provided with fastening through-holes 17 which allow the trim to be attached to support surface by way of fasteners such as screws. Such a fastening method could be used in addition or alternatively to the method attachment described above which involves use of the tile adhesive to secure the trim to the support surface.

It will be appreciated that the size of the through-hole 5 could be configured to different sizes, to correspond to different pipe sizes. For example, the hole 5 could be configured to received the following types/sizes of pipe: Copper Tube ônim 8mm 1 Omni 12mm 1 5mm 22mm 28mm 35mm 42mm 54mm 67mm 76mm 1 08mm 1 33mm 159mm Pressure Plastics Class C Pipe l1/4 11⁄4" 2" 3" 4" 6" 8" Pressure Plastics Class U Pipe 11⁄4" 2" 3" 4" Pressure Plastics Class E Pipe %ths" / I' /2 S " -3 74 1'' 1'/4" p//a" 21⁄4" 3" 4" 5" Pressure Plastics Class T Pipe 3/sths" 1⁄4" 3/4" 1'' 1'/1" 11⁄4" 2" Pressure Plastics Metric Size ABS & PYCU 16mm 20mm 25mm 32mm 40mm 50mm 63mm 75mm 90mm 110mm 125mm 140mm 1 60mm I 80mm 200mm 225mm 0mm 280mm 3 1 5mm 355mm 400mm Soil & Waste Plastic Solvent Weld & Push Fit 1 9mni 22mm 32mm 40mm 50mm 82mm 110mm 160mm Steel Pipe 1 Smin 20mm 25mm 32mm 40mm 50mm 65mm 80mm 100mm 125mm 150mm 200mm 250mm 300mm 350mm 400mm 450mm 500mm 600mm Cast Iron Soil & Waste Omni 70mm mm 125mm 1 5 0mm 200mm 250mm 300mm Above Ground Stainless Steel Drainage 50mm 75mm 110mm mm 160mm 200mm 250mm

M PD E 40mm S 0mm 56mm 63mm 75mm 90mm 110mm 125mm 160mm 200mm 250mm

315 mm 3S Although mention has been made above of tiling around the raised portion 3, an alternative covering product to tiles may comprise plaster (or similar), cladding, pre-formed sheet material or plasterboard. In the case of a pre-forined covering product, such as plasterboard, a hole would be formed therein to allow the raised por ion to extend therethrough when the plasterboard is attached to the underlying support structure. Even when the covering product is not tiles and is in the form of a wet or semi-wet substance such as plaster, the presence of the straight-edged sides 4 considerably facilitates the application of the covering product, as compared to having to apply the product around a curved surface (or a pipe).

It will be appreciated that the trim, or at least the surface 7, could have any suitable coloration so as to blend in with any covering product used.

It will further be appreciated that the trim may be made of any suitable material such as plastic or metal (for example Aluminium).

Although the above embodiment is a single piece item, in an alternative embodiment, the surround trim may be provided as two half components. So, for example, the trim may be provided as two halves. Alternatively, the user may purchase the trim as a single piece item and prior to installation thereof, may cut or break the trim into one or more components. This could be achieved by way of the tile trim being provided with a weakened region so that the user can manually (or with a suitable tool) break the trim into two or more components. Advantageously, having the surround trim as two or more components facilitates installation of the trim. Where space is restricted, it may be difficult to install the trim as a single piece item. Where the trim is either provided as two components or is provided with weakened region to allow the same to be configured into multiple components, each half component may be as that on each side of the section shown in Figure 1.

Claims

<claim-text>CLAIMS1. A surround trim for a conduit, the trim arranged to be secured to a support structure through which the conduit is to pass, the trim comprising a flange and a surrounding protruding portion through which a hole is provided, and the protruding portion comprising a surrounding margin which comprises a plurality of substantially straight side surfaces.</claim-text> <claim-text>2. A surround trim as claimed in claim 1 in which the through-hole is substantially circular.</claim-text> <claim-text>3. A surround trim as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 in which the protruding portion is integral with the flange.</claim-text> <claim-text>4. A surround trim as claimed in any preceding claim in which the trim is arranged to be attached to a wall 5. A surround trim as claimed in any preceding claim in which the surrounding margin of the protruding portion is of substantially parallelogram shape.6. A surround trim as claimed in any preceding claim in which the surrounding margin of thc protruding portion is substantially square shaped.7. A surround trim as claimed in any preceding claim in which the flange comprises a plurality of through-holes.8. A surround trim as claimed in any preceding claim in which the trim comprises a finished surface arranged to present an external surface.9. A surround trim as claimed in claim 8 in which the finished surface is arranged to be capable of being substantially flush with an adjacent support surface covering.10. A surround trim as claimed in any preceding claim in which the protruding portion comprises a formation which is raised from the trim.11. A surround trim as claimed in any preceding claim in which the sides of the protruding portion are arranged to be contiguous with a covering product to be applied to the flange.12. A surround trim as claimed iii any preceding claim in which the flange and the protruding portion are arranged to be located on one side of the supporting structure.13. A surround trim as claimed in any preceding claim in which the straight-edge sides form interface surfaces for a support structure covering product.14. A surround trim as claimed in any preceding claim which comprises at least two components which are arranged to be brought together around the conduit.15. A surround trim as claimed in claim 14 which comprises two separate halves.16. A surround trim as claimed in claim 14 and 15 which may be arranged to be formed into multiple components.17. A surround trim as claimed in claim 16 which comprises a weakened region to allow a user to separate the trim into multiple components.18. A surround trim substantially as herein described with reference to the drawings.</claim-text>